The Time

Machine

THE
OLYMPIANS!
THE HISTORY OF THE
OLYMPICS
Olympia, Greece
Founder of the Olympic games
Coroebus
The naked cook is the first Olympic champion in 776 BC
Theodosius – 393 AD
“On march 25, 1896, a sad rainy
Wednesday morning, cannons were
fired, doves released, and after a
gap of 1503 years the Olympics
were reborn. The dream of one man
had become reality.”Coote, James
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN FILM
 Olympic Films

Olympia, 1936, directed by Leni Tokyo Olympiad, 1965, directed

Riefanstahl by Kon Ichikawa

Munich, 2005, directed by Steven Cool Runnings, 1993, directed by Jon Turtelturb Chariots of fire, 1981, directed by
Spielberg Hugh hudson
The Nazi Olympics
‘Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to prove his theories of Aryan superiority.’
(The Sports Book, 2007,pg 17).
 Two Parts:

Festival of Nations

Festival of Beauty

Super human beauty

Paul Joseph Goebbles, Nazi Minister of Propaganda.
Jesse Owens, winner of four gold
medals at the 1936 Olympic
games

...the personification of all that contradicted

Hitler...
 ‘But Leni Riefenstahl’s work is much more than a mere
record of athletic achievement. It has become a worldwide
symbol of the close bond between art and sport.’
(Monique Berlioux, Director of the IOC, Leni Riefenstahl- Olympia, 2002,
Taschen, Koln, Germany, 3rd Edition)
Equestrian injuries...

...the body isn’t always perfect and can be

damaged...
 ‘However, the question whether the Nazi’s put the film
to use as propaganda is quite different. The German
government certainly would not have released ‘Olympia’
if it had not portrayed Germany in the way the Nazi
Party wished to be portrayed.’
(Robert C. Schneider and William F. Stier, www.thesportsjournal.org/leni-riefenstahl-
olympia-brilliant-cinematography-or-nazi-propaganda, Leni Riefenstahls ‘Olympia’:
Brillant Cinematography or Nazi Propaganda?, 2001 accessed 12/02/11)
Politics during the Olympics
Olympic games affected by political
conflicts and wars.
 In the history of the The Olympic games
Olympics there have were affected
always been between 1916 until
problems caused 1952 because of the
principally because First and Second
of war, political and World Wars.
economic problems.
Some of the most memorable olympics
 In the Olympic games
of 1920 in Antwerp
(Belgium),those
countries that were
held responsible for
World War I (for
example Germany,
Hungary, Bulgaria,
Austria, Turkey) were
excluded from the
games by the IOC.
 In 1936 the games, that are
best remembered as the
failed attempt by the Nazi’s
to prove the theories of
Aryan racial superiority.
The hero of the games that
year was an African-
American, Jesse Owens.
That Olympic games was
also used as propaganda
to get more power for the
Second World War.
Communist Vs Capitalist
 In the summer
Olympics of 1952 the
Russian athletes
(representing
communist soviet
union) participated to
prove that they were
a stronger nation
than the capitalist
US.
 The games of 1956 in
Australia were missing
the presence of many
nations because the
economic resources,
they didn't have enough
money to get there. Also
some countries decided
not to go in protest
against the invasion of
Soviet Union in Hungary.
 The games of 1968  The massacre of
in Mexico had many Tlatelolco
complaints affected
by the amount of
money spent in the
games when the
country had already
serious economic
problems causing
many protests.
 In the summer games in
1972 Palestinian terrorist
broke into the Olympic
village killing two members
of the Israeli team and
taking nine more hostage.
It all ended with all nine
hostages being killed,
along with the five terrorist
and a policeman. Because
of this the games were
stopped for 34 hours.
 In the games in Moscow
in 1980 just 80 countries
were represented and
the United States led a
boycott in protest against
the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan.
 Then in the games of
1984 in Los Angeles a
revenge boycott was
lead by the Soviet Union,
depleting the field in
certain sports.
 OLYMPIC GAMES – A
SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Marxism in sport
 Commercialism and the Olympics –
World’s fairs (international showcases of
industry and commerce) in Paris (1900)
and St. Louis (1904).
 Racism – 1936 Berlin Olympics gypsies
clear out, anti-Semitic propaganda. Also
held the first torch relay.
 Post 9/11 American Might and
Militarism.
 More dangerous sports have been
introduced in order to boost ratings.
The Televised games
 Up to 1996 the summer Olympic games televised rights
fees in the US have increased to 500 million USD.

 Beijing Olympics televised rights were $1,737 million

 NBC paid $897 million for the rights and expected to

earn $1bn in advertising sales.

 Keeping up with technology the Beijing games were the

first to be covered entirely in high definition.
 http://www.terramedia.co.uk/media/change/olympic_games.htm
Bibliography
 The Olympic Games – the first thousand years M.I Finley and H.W Pleket
 History of the Olympics – James Coote
 Chronicles of the Olympics – Dorling Kindersley Limited
 Images:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2282986752/tt0408306- Munich DVD case, unknown creator,
2005
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/ - Chariots of Fire DVD case, unknown creator, 1981
http://www.pathfinderpictures.com/olympia.html - Olympia DVD case, unknown creator, 1938
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1205572/Hitler-shook-hands-black-1936-Ol
ympic-hero-Jesse-Owens.html
- Houlton- Deutsch Collection, Hitler watching the 1936 Olympic games , 1936. (From an
article by Allan Hall, 2009, Did Hitler shake hands with black 1936 Olympic hero Jesse
Owens?)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_T3lg6p_ATmc/S6_FgkbEkEI/AAAAAAAAF0A/HjowNtBKv7E/s1600/
goebbels1.jpg
- Image of Paul Joseph Goebbles, Nazi minister of propaganda, unknown date and
photographer.
Film stills from ‘Olympia’, 1938, Leni Riefenstahl, [DVD] Germanys
Scanned images from Bach, Steven, Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, 2007, Great
Britain
 Online Journal:
Mackenzie, Michael, From Athens to Berlin: The 1936 Olympics and Leni Riefenstahl’s
Olympia, The university of Chicago Press, Vol 29, No. 2, Winter 2003

 Websites:
Robert C. Schneider and William F. Stier,
www.thesportsjournal.org/leni-riefenstahl-olympia-brilliant-cinematography-or-nazi-propaga
nda
, Leni Riefenstahls ‘Olympia’: Brillant Cinematography or Nazi Propaganda?, 2001
accessed 12/02/11
Unknown Author, 2011, http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/0,,1267862,00.html, accessed
12/02/11
Unknown Author, 2009, http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-81253131577121557#,
accessed 12/02/11

 Films:
Olympia, (1938) Directed by Leni Riefenstahl [DVD] Germany

 Books:
Attwood, Philip, British Art Medals 1982-2002, Britsish Art Medal Trust, London, 2002
Bach, Steven, Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, 2007, Great Britain
Girardi, Wolfgang, Olympic games, International Library, 1972, first edition, Great Britain
Riefenstahl, Leni, Olympia, Taschen, Koln, Germany, 2002, 3rd edition
Sports Book, The, DK Publishing, New York, USA, 2007